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Rizal Day was first instituted with a decree from PresidentEmilio Aguinaldo issued December 20, 1898 and celebrated December 30, 1898 as a national day of mourning for Rizal in Malolos, Bulacan and all victims of the Spanish colonial rule of the Philippines.[1]Daet, Camarines Norte was the first town to follow the decree, building a monument designed by Lt. Col. Antonio Sanz, led by Sanz and Lt. Col. Ildefonso Alegre, and financed by the townsfolk of Camarines Norte and the rest of the Bicol Region.[1][2] Finished on February 1899, the three-tiered stone pylon inscribing Rizal's novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, and Morga, for Antonio de Morga, author of Sucesos de las islas Filipinas, a book about the early days of the Spanish colonization in the Philippines.[2]

Rizal Day ceremonies are held at Rizal Park in Manila. This is usually held early in the morning, led by the President and Vice President, and involve the raising of the national flag at the national flagpole, andthe laying down of a wreath in front of the Rizal Monument. The president also usually has a year-end address that is first broadcast on this holiday.[3]

Rites are also held elsewhere in the country. This usually involves the chief executive of a province, city or town. This involves a flag-raising ceremony at the town's or city's Rizal monument.

Starting in 1936, Rizal Day was also the inauguration day of the incoming president. Presidents usually chose Independence Grandstand (now known as Quirino Grandstand) as the inauguration venue because it faces the spot where Rizal was buried, and also the site of the independence ceremony in 1946, according to historian Manuel L. Quezon III.[4] In the inauguration of Ramon Magsaysay after winning the 1953 presidential election via a landslide, around 300,000 to 500,000 people attended the ceremonies.[1] With the approval of the 1973 constitution, inauguration days were moved to June 30.

In the centenary of Rizal's death on December 30, 1996, the program included retracing Rizal's footsteps from his cell at Fort Santiago to the spot where he was executed, followed by the reenactment of his execution and flag-raising at Rizal Park.[1]

On December 30, 2000, in what was subsequently called as the "Rizal Day bombings," local Islamists with the backing of Jemaah Islamiyah bombed five areas in Metro Manila that caused 22 deaths and 100 injured.[5]

Being that December 30 is sandwiched between Christmas and New Year's Day, National Historical Commission chairperson Ambeth Ocampo pushed for the moving of Rizal Day from December 30 to June 19, Rizal's birth. This would allow students to participate in commemoration activities as opposed to it being held on December 30 which is in the middle of the Christmas vacation. The House of Representatives approved on its third reading a bill that would have changed it to June 19 on December 10, 2008,[6][7][8] but was not acted in time by the Senate after the 14th Congress ended its session and was thus not enacted.

On April 29, 2011, PresidentBenigno Aquino III officially declared June 19, 2011 a special one-time non-working holiday in commemoration of Rizal's 150th Birthday.[9]